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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



REST AND EESURRECTION 



OE, THE 



SABBATH AXD THE SUXDAY. 



BY 



JANE ANNE WINSCOM. 

AUTHOR OF "YINEYAED LABOUEEES/' "ONWABD," ETC. ETC. 



/ 

SEELEY, JACKSON, AND HALLIDAY, FLEET STREET. 
LONDON. lilDCCCLLK. 



PEEFACE, 



The Sabbath commenced when God rested on the 
seventh day from all the work which He had made. 
It ceased after Jesus had rested in the silent tomb 
from that more wondrous work of redemption, which, 
by His resurrection, was declared completed. The 
Sabbath was commemorative, typical, and anticipa- 
tive : commemorative of the Creator's rest ; typical of 
the Kedeemer's rest ; anticipative of the Believer's 
rest, when he shall fall asleep ; and of the Sanctifier's 
rest, when the Millennial Sabbath shall dawn, and 
the sealing unto the day of redemption shall be wholly 
effected. 

The Sunday of the Christian Church commenced 
when Christ, the Sun of Eighteousness, arose trium- 
phant over death and the grave, and it still con- 
tinues. It is the spring-day of hope — the birthday 



IV PEEFACE. 

of life. Like the Sabbath, it is commeroorative 
and anticipative ; but it is the Eedeefaer's Eesur- 
rection that it commemorates — it is the perfection 
of the ransomed, re-united soul and body, that it 
anticipates. 

Sunday transcends the Sabbath, even as redemp- 
tion is a greater work than creation, even as the 
waking up after the Saviour's image is more blessed 
than the falling asleep in Jesus. 

We seldom clearly draw in our minds the dis- 
tinction between the Sabbath of the Old and the 
Sunday of the New Dispensation. We use the words 
as if they were synonymes, and continually speak 
of an everlasting Sabbath, whilst Scripture speaks 
only of an everlasting life — and of our Christian 
Sabbath, whilst the Bible knows only of a Christian 
first day of the week. 

As a day of rest from six days' toil of mind and 
body, the expression is not wholly incorrect. But 
this is taking the lowest view of our Lord's-day — this 
is regarding it in its negative, not in its positive, 
aspect ; it is staying our minds on rest, rather than 
looking forward through its peaceful vista to the 
glories of resurrection, And, even in this sense, the 
rest it affords is rather the accident of our position in 
life than a necessity resulting from the Lord's-day. 
The Minister of the Gospel, the ]\Iissionary, the 
Sunday-school teacher, and many others, find, that if 
they require rest they must look forward to that 



PREFACE. V 

which a week-day supplies, mind and body expe- 
riencing Sunday to be a day of fatigue. 

Sunday's characteristic is rather the service of 
resurrection life, the service of worship, the service 
of love — for 

*' Love may yet labour on Care's day of rest.'' 

Sunday's notes are a harmony of earth's hosan- 
nahs and of heaven's hallelujahs. On its deeds are 
written, " G-lory to God in the highest, good will 
towards men." Faith lays hold of Sunday, and bids 
us believe that the Saviour rose for our justification. 
Hope rejoices in the Lord's-day, and writes upon its 
sacred hours, " Christ is risen from the dead, and is 
become the first-fruits of them that slept." Love 
claims Sunday for her own possession, and urges her 
strongest plea, that we which live should not hence- 
forth live unto ourselves, but unto Him that died for 
us and rose again. 

Sunday is the day on which earth and heaven 
may be united, joined in the one great work of direct 
adoration of the Universal King. The seventh link 
of heaven's golden chain is dropped, that we may see 
its beauty ; and the seventh link of earth's iron chain 
is caught up, that it may be loosened. Flowers from 
heaven's paradise are showered down that we may know 
their fragrance, and the fading buds of earth breathe 
heaven's atmosphere that they may be revived. 

Sunday is earth's day of refreshing, the anticipa- 



VI PEEFACE. 

tion of its glorious new-born resurrection, when there 
shall be new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth 
righteousness. 

Sunday is the believer's festal-day, the comme- 
moration of the victory of the Captain of his salva- 
tion; the victory in which lies the triumph of the 
Church. 

The nearer Sunday approaches what Jesus de- 
signed, the more will it be the day of holy joy and of 
ardent service ; the more will the thought of rest give 
way to the anticipation of resurrection, the thought of 
sleeping in Je£us to that of waking after the Saviour's 
likeness. 

In meditating on the Sabbath and the Sunday, 
may we become more meet, not only for the rest that 
remaineth for the people of God, but likewise for the 
resurrection-morn, when this mortal shall be clothed 
in immortality, and this corruptible shall rise in in- 
corruption. And may we likewise realise more fully 
the glories of present resurrection blessing, the one- 
ness that the believer now enjoys with a risen Jesus, 
the passage of the Spirit already effected from death 
unto life. And being thus risen with Christy let us 
seek those things which are above, where Christ 
sitteth on the right-hand of God. 



CONTENTS. 



I. THE CEEATOE S SABBATH 

II. THE EEDEEMEr's SABBATH . 

III. THE BELTEYEr's SABBATH . 

rV. THE SANCTIFIER's SABBATH 

V. THE redeemer's RESURRECTIOX-DAY 

VI. THE believer's RESURRECTION-DAT 

VII. earth's RESURRECTTON-DAT 



PAGE 

1 

13 

23 
85 
51 
63 
77 



THE CREATOR'S SABBATH. 



" And now on earth the seventh 
Evening arose in Eden, for the sun has set 
And twilight from the east came on, 
ForeiTinning night : when at the holv mount 
Of heaven's high-seated top, the imperial throne 
Of Godhead, fixed for ever finn and sure, 
The filial Power arrived, and sat Him down 

With His great Father 

And from work 

Now resting, bless' d and hallow' d the seventh day. 
As resting on that day from all His work. 

* * -jf # 

Creation and the six days' work they sing : 
' Great are thy works, Jehovah ! infinite 
Thy power ! "What thought can measure thee, or tongue 
Eelate thee ! Greater now in thy return 
Than from the giant angels I Yaee that day 
Thy wonders magnified. But to create 
Is greater than created to destroy.' 
So sing they, and the empyi^an rang 
With hallelujahs : thus was Sabbath kept." 

MiLTOX. 



B 



THE CEEATOR'S SABBATH. 



"And on tlie seventh day God ended his work which 
he had made ; and he rested on the seventh day from all 
his work which he had made." — Gen. ii. 2. 



When the great Theocrat of the people of Israel 
revealed His will to the tribes travelling in the 
vrilderness, or conquering in the Land of Promise, 
it was by means of the mysterious [Trim and Thum- 
mim, which names signify., '^ Light and Perfection." 
When the great Creator — He who is the same 
yesterday, to-day, and for ever — manifested by 
the building of the universe His glorious cha- 
racter, light and perfection formed the Alpha and 
the Omega, the first and the last, of that won- 
drous revelation. The Divine record opens with a 
short and sublime relation of how the vast, dark 
chaos, which the Almighty God had created, was 
dissipated by His Spirit brooding over the face of 
the waters, begetting life, and His word going forth 
creating light ; whilst the revelation of the six days* 
work closes with the description of the Almighty 
Creator, beholding from His dwelling-place the 



4 REST AND RESUERECTION. 

world which He had formed, and well satisfied with 
the perfection of all its parts, pronouncing it to be 
^^ very good." 

During that period the wisdom, power, and 
benevolence of the Deity had been gradually mani- 
fested to created intelligences in high places. Now 
earth was tenanted by him who bore the image of 
Jehovah — by him who was crowned king of this 
lower world — by him to whom God had delegated 
authority over all things that He had made. The 
impress was given to the seal — the deed was finished 

— creation was perfected. In the councils of eternity 
God had determined that creation should be marked 
by completion, providence by continuity, glory by 
development. Creation was to be connected with 
the past, — that was ; providence with the present, 
' — that is; glory with the future, — that is to he. 
And on the seventh day, when God rested from all 
the work which He had made, does He reveal Him- 
self by the great name of Jehovah — that name which 
expresses a perfect past, because He had been the 
Creator ; a continual present, because He is the 
Upholder; an everlasting future, for He will be 
the Rewarder of responsible man. It is remarkable 
that this name is never used in the first chapter of 
Genesis ; it is first employed in the fourth verse of 
the second chapter, immediately after the record of 
that Sabbath rest, which seemed the seal of the 
Creator's work — the testimony of its completeness 

— the silent declaration, "It is finished," 



TKE CKEATOE^S SABBATH. 5 

This could not be unintentionaL In another 
portion of Scripture^ the name of Jehovah is con- 
trasted with that of God Ahnioiitv. as if the former 

CD 1/ ' 

could only be employed when the Lord had con- 
summated some special work of creation^ of pre- 
servation^ or of deliverance.* 

We rest because of weakness^ or of strength ; 
because labour conquers us^ or because we con- 
quer labour. God rests only because of strength. 
The ^^Everlasting God/' the ^^ Jehovah/' the 
^^ Creator of the ends of the earthy fainteth not, 
neither is weary." " He spake, and it was done ; 
He commanded, and it stood fast.''' ^^ By the word 
of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host 
of them by the breath of His mouth." He made 
the earth by His power, He established the world 
by His wisdom. He stretched out the heavens by 

"^ Exod. vi. 3. This seems to have reference to the 
promise of the future possession of Canaan. Faith, not 
sight, enabled Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to regard the 
Giver of the promise as Jehovah. By faith they saw the 
promises afar off, and were persuaded of them, and em- 
braced them ; and God was not ashamed to be called their 
God, their Jehovah God, because He knew the faithfulness 
of His own word ; He knew that He had prepared for them 
a city (Heb. xi. 16). To the captive Hebrews in the land 
of Egypt God's revelation was, " I will redeem you with an 
outstretched hand, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah,'' 
(Exod. vi. 6, 7.) To the eye of sight this knowledge was 
still future, for until Israel was delivered God was not 
sensibly manifested as Jehovah, the fulfiller of the pro- 
mise. 



6 REST AXD RESUEEECTION. 

His discretion. That pov^'er was omnipotent stilly 
that wisdom had not lost its omniscience, that dis- 
cretion knew no diminution. God ceased from His 
work, not because He could neither vary nor en- 
large the world which He had formed, nor because 
He could invent no other intelligences to call into 
existence, but rather because His work was perfect, 
because it fulfilled the designs of infinite wisdom, 
because God beheld it '^ very good/'' 

During six lengthened periods, whose dm^ation 
is unrevealed in Scripture, God as Creator had 
worked wonderfullv. brinoiug; li^ht out of darkness, 
order out of chaos, fruitfulness out of barrenness, 
and life out of inanity. Gradually he fitted earth 
for man's abode, purifying the atmosphere, con- 
densing the vapours, discovering the dry land, 
clothiiio: it with fruits, and herbs, and flowers, 
tenanting; the sea with its finnv tribes, the air with 
its winged voyagers, the earth with beasts both 
small and great. Then, in sacred council, the 
triune God determined on the formation of man, 
to be the crown on earth of His great and glo- 
rious work, to be made in His image, and to bear 
His likeness. In vain fancy endeavoiu's to com- 
pare him with the intelligent beings that we 
cannot doubt people other spheres. Scripture is 
silent as to man's place in the universe, and 
science knows no data from which to speculate 
upon it. ]Man was the youngest-born, the faii^est, 
and the noblest of earthly creatures ; and we ai^e 



THE CKEATOK's SABBATH. 



told, tliat after the first of oar race, male and female, 
had stood in pristine beauty and innocence before 
the Lord, and received the command of their 
Creator, their Sovereign, and their Father, the 
mornini^ stars sang* too-ether, and the sons of God 
rejoiced for joy. Then came the Sabbath — creation 
finished, rest commenced : the Creator's Sabbath — 
which shall not be broken until earth's resurrection 
morn, until the regeneration of all things, until the 
creation of the new heavens and new earth, where 
shall dwell everlasting; rig:hteousness, wherein shall 
be the perfected inheritance of redeemed, glorified 
man. As Creator, therefore, the Lord resteth 
now. The grand creative acts — whereby things that 
were not became things that are; whereby more 
varied and more perfect forms appeared from time 
to time on the surface of the earth — have ceased; 

and God bv transmutation now works His wonders 

t/ 

in our world. We do not speak of other spheres, 
for poor, finite, sinful man knows very little of the 
unsearchable works of his great Creator. Man's 
days are as a span, his position is as a point, his 
knowledge is as ignorance. Man placed in the 
universe may be compared to the multitude of tiny 
insects that find their little world in the opening 
blossoms of a flower, or to the rock-cemented shell- 
fish, that knows the ocean only by the wave that 
dashes over it. 

And yet we think the Creator's Sabbath-day 
was a high day among celestial inteUigences. Con- 



8 EEST AND EESTJERECTION. 

sider the insignificance of the nails on which hang 
the most wonderful truths^ the littleness of the 
agents from which have been made the greatest 
discoveries. Has not the m^echanism of the insect's 
wing revealed striking proofs of the Creator's wis- 
dom? Has not the simple falling of an apple 
taught the great principle of universal gravita- 
tion? Has not the industry of the ant imparted 
a lesson of wisdom to mankind, and the discovery 
of the tiniest shell-fish, or of the lowliest fern, 
caused the naturalist joyfully to exult? And even 
so, many passages of Scripture speak of the angels, 
bending from their high and lofty seat, longingly 
looking into the history of the inhabitants of Earth's 
small globe, rejoicing in its creation, and wondering 
in its redemption* Angelic beings have ever watched 
with adoring; interest the creative acts of their 
Creator, and when by mortal ear were heard some 
of their choral songs, their glad ascription of praise 
was, '^ Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory 
and honour and power, for thou hast created all 
things, and for thy pleasure they are and were 
created." No doubt, therefore, the Creator's, '^ It is 
very good,^^ was re-echoed by the ten thousand times 
ten thousand of the heavenly choir, who then con- 
templated with delight what they could apprehend 
of the wisdom and benevolence of their Almio;hty 
God. 

On earth the Paradisaical Sabbath must have 
been a day of perfect purity^ love, and joy. So 



THE CEEATOE S SABBATH. 9 

was each day, until sin entered the world, and 
death by sin. Yet on the seventh day there was 
an intensity in these blessed characteristics. Then 
all were golden days^ but the Sabbath was as the 
gold purified seven times. Perfection then marked 
each link of Time's chain^ but the pattern of the 
seventh day's was of surpassing beauty. The six 
days' cup of happiness was then unmingled. with 
one drop of sorrow, but throughout the seventh^s a 
special sweetness was diflFusecl. It was especially 
the day when man as a son of God took his place 
in the vast cono;reo;ation of heaven's host ; it was 
the day on which the tilling of the ground was 
stayed, that man might hold closer communion 
with his Maker : it was the day on which he 
reposed from things terrestrial, that he might con- 
template with a clearer and clearer eye the per- 
fections of the great and incomprehensible Jehovah. 
The first Sabbath in Eden, and we know not if 
there were more, must have been a glorious day — 
a new creation, unmarred, untainted, fresh from the 
hands of the Deity, resting in all the beauty which 
its great Creator had pronomiced very good, mani- 
festing in its loveliness the extent of His benevolence, 
in its perfection the infinitude of His wisdom; — in- 
animate Nature sending upwards the tribute of her 
praise — the mountains in their stillness, the green 
fields in their verdure, the giant trees in their 
strength, the pencilled flowers in their beauty; — 
conscious creation swelling the hymn of praise — 



10 REST A>'D RESrHEECnON. 

fish, and birds^ and beasts, fulfilling their appointed 
work^ their organization without defect, their life full 
of enjoyment : man, the appointed sovereign of all, 
the apex of creation's pyramid, beholding wher- 
ever he turned the eye fresh proofs of his Creator^s 
skill, and with the beloved and beautiful woman 
formed to be his companion, looking up to heaven 
with filial gratitude, wonder, and adoration, and 
adding notes, yet deeper and yet higher, in praise 
of Him by whom and for whom all things were 
created. 

The Sabbath primarily appertained to the God- 
head, but already had the good of man been linked 
with the glory of God in mdissoluble chains. From 
its earliest institution we niav sav, in the words of 
the Lord Jesus, '^ The Sabbath was made for mau^ 
and not man for the Sabbath." 

Whilst it is the high privilege of man, that, 
formed in the ima^e of God. he. like his Creator, 
should work for six davs and rest for one : vet, 
from the eaidiest hour, he has been taught the 
immeasurable distance between himself^ the work- 
manship of the Almighty, and God, the great 
Maker of all things. God, as Creator, rested not 
till His work was perfect : man, as creature, rested 
on the first day of his existence. Tlie perfection 
of the One lay in Himself, in His power, in His 
wisdom, in His love, and was unknown in its ful- 
ness until the six days' work declared it. The 
perfection of the other lay in his oneness with his 



THE CEEATOR's SABBATH. ll 

Makei% in his being formed the son of God^ and 
was seen in his haviiiD: the Divine imao-e. in his 
manifesting the ways of his heavenly Father. 

Because God was perfect^ man was perfect; 
and in hke manner because God rested^ man rested. 
The Sabbath was God^s, but was mven to man. 
He received it without money and without price. 
He worked not for it ; he did nothing to obtain it. 
It became Adam's by inheritance^ because Adam 
was the son of God. 

The Sabbath may be regarded as one of the 
Yestio;es left to fallen man of his hio^h and heavenly 
biith^ — as a fragment of Eden's blessedness, as a 
primeval gift from the Father to the children, as a 
mark retained by the creature of the Creator's 
image. TTe wrongly speak of its requirements 
rather than of its privileges ; we falsely regard it 
as a day given hj us to God, rather than as a blessed 
boon bestowed on us by Jehovah. 

Fellow-creatures, shall we despise our high 
and holy heritage ? Shall we consider the oift as 
a bondage, — the permitted privilege as an irksome 
commandment? Shall we rob oui^ fellow-man of 
the right he receives by mheritance from his 
Creator? Shall we abridse that sacred seventh 
portion of time, the gift of God to men, free as 
the air we breathe, or the hght we behold? Let 
us rather regard it as a ^' feast of fat things, as a 
feast of wine on the lees ; of fat thina^s full of 
maiTow, of wine on the lees well refined." Let us 



12 BEST AND RESIJREECTION. 

partake of its blessings with thankful joj, and re- 
memberino; those who know not its advantao;es. who 
share not its benefits^ let us each endeavour, by 
every means we can, ^^ to send portions to them for 
whom nothing is prepared." So shall we fulfil our 
Father's will, and retain for ourselves, and regain 
for our fellow-man, this blessed portion of our 
natural inheritance. 



13 



THE REDEEMER'S SABBATH. 



" Thine is Redemption ! . . . . 

Eedemption ! 'twas creation more sublime : 
Redemption ! 'twas the labour of the skies, — 
Far more than labour, it was death in heaven." 

Young. 

" And thou wert laid within the narrow tomb. 
The clay-cold limbs with shrouding grave-clothes bound ; 
The sealed stone confirmed thy mortal doom ; 
Lone watchmen walk'd thy desert burial-ground, 
Whom heaven could not contain, 
Nor th' immeasurable plain 
Of vast Infinity enclose or circle round." 

MumiAN. 



15 



THE REDEEMER'S SABBATH. 

" Jesus said, It is finished ; and tie bowed his head, and 
gave up the ghost." — John^ xix. 30. 

" Joseph went unto Pilate, and begged the body of 
Jesus. 

'^ And he took it down, and wrapped it in hnen, and 
laid it in a sepulchre, that was hewn in stone, wherein 
never man before was laid. 

" And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath 
drew on." — Liike^ xxiii. 52-54= 

When Jesus bowed His head on Calvary's cross^ 
and uttered^ with the voice of lowlj^ yet exalted 
triumph^ " It is finished," then the Father looked 
upon the completed work of redemption, ^^and, 
behold, it was very good." Then drew on the 
Sabbath-day, and the Redeemer rested, having 
fulfilled the law, and made it honourable; having 
finished the transgression ; having made an end of 
sin; having endured, for man's salvation, that 
fearful, arduous conflict in which He had fought 
and conquered. 

The contemned, the pierced, the stiffened, the 
dead body of Jesus rested in the tomb. No longer 



16 EEST AND RESUEKECTION» 

did the wearied limbs writhe in agony, nor the fail- 
ing heart feel hke melting wax, nor the thirsty 
tongue cleave unto the roof of the mouth, nor the 
bones become disjointed with cruel stretching. The 
eyes which lately beheld the savage multitude are 
closed in slumber now; the ears that heard their 
fierce shouts listen no longer ; the lips which had 
lately uttered, with the sad cry, '^ Eloi, Eloi, lama 
sabachthani ! " are silent in death; the hands that 
were outstretched in agony are now gently crossed 
upon the breast ; and the despised form, which hung 
a curse upon the tree, a derision to the beholders, 
is wrapped in fine linen, and laid in the sepulchre. 
The body of Jesus rests, and the Father will not 
suflPer His Holy One to see corruption. 

The soul of Jesus, — that spirit pure and unde- 
filed, acutely sensitive to every indignity, that had 
been exceeding sorrowful even unto death; that 
had borne the curses of mankind ; that had been 
as the lamb in the midst of lions, as the helpless 
one compassed by bulls, yea, by the strong bulls of 
Bashan ; that for a time had felt itself unheard by 
Him who inhabiteth the praises of Israel,* that had 
been judicially the object of Jehovah's indigna- 
tion; that sacred soul was now commended into 
the Father^s hands, and had entered on its Sabbath 
in Paradise. Its work is perfect, its toil is over, 
its hope is certain, its conflict has resulted in 

"^ Ps. xxii. 2, 3. 



THE REDEEMEE's SABBATH. 17 

victory. The soul of Jesus rests^ and God will not 
leave that soul in Hades. 

We form few ideas of thin0;s positively, and 
concerning the rest of Jesus we can only realise 
even in degree the thought of its perfection and of 
its bliss, by considering the mission which was then 
completed. We can only measure the Redeemer's 
rest by contemplating the Redeemer's work. In 
order to understand, in some manner, the depth, 
the height, the length, and the breadth of that 
mission of love, we would compare and contrast it 
with the previous perfect work of the Godhead, the 
work of creation. 

Creation was a work in which the wisdom, love, 
and power of the triune God were displayed with- 
out hindrance, in which these attributes of Jehovah 
shone forth with undiminished glory. It was a 
work wholly unopposed — a work which, were we 
to speak after the manner of men, we should de- 
signate as wholly free from difficulties. God spake, 
and it was done : he commanded, and it stood fast. 
Everything was obedient to His word, and His power 
was seen in the non-resistance of the creature ; His 
wisdom, in the perfection which resulted from the 
expression of the Divine volition; His love, in the 
adaptation of all He made for the enjoyment of life. 
But in creation the attributes of God were not 
altogether manifested. To be fully revealed, they 
were shown under a new aspect. 

Redemption was a work in which, to man, the 

c 



18 REST AND RESURRECTION. 

wisdom of God appeared to be baffled, the power of 
God to be encompassed with weakness, and the love 
of God to interfere with His great characteristic of 
perfect justice, of unfailing truth. Jehovah, how- 
ever, worked His own sovereign and mysterious 
will. During four thousand years He permitted 
His enemies to exult in seeming victory, and to 
gird themselves with full armour for the conflict. 
Like the Philistine, with shield, and sword, and 
spear, they were arrayed for the battle ; and like 
him they defied the living God, and spoke high 
words against the Lord, and against His Anointed. 
The Almighty, however, was prepared. In the 
fulness of time the Second Person of the Godhead 
became veiled in human flesh, and encompassed 
with all the sinless infirmities of fallen man. Thus 
the Redeemer laid aside, as it were, the omnipo- 
tence of the Deity, and clothed in humanity went 
forth to meet the creature, who, no longer obedient 
to His word, was now in direct opposition to Him — 
rebel men and apostate angels uniting to mar His 
work. God humbled Himself to become the crea- 
ture, in order that the perfection of the work of His 
own hands might be established ; in order that the 
broken harmony of creation might be restored — 
that ^^ Glory to God in the highest " might be the 
anthem sounded from the earth which Satan sought 
to destroy — that man, snatched as a brand from the 
burning, might shine in heaven's canopy, a diamond 
star for ever and ever. 



THE REDEEMEE S SABBATH. 19 

Jesus knew fully the difficulties which beset the 
work He undertook ; the pain^ the sorrow^ the trial 
of the conflict^ He waged. But from His high and 
holy dwelling-place He looked forth^ and beheld 
man, lost man, the pearl of great price ; and He, as 
the merchantman of the parable, was well pleased 
to sell all that He had to purchase him.^ He went 
forth from the Father's bosom, the kingdom of 
celestial glory, the home of divine adoration, intent 
upon the recovery of man, to be His on the day 
that He should make up His jewels. He gave up 
rest, and became the wearied traveller — joy, and 
was named the Man of Sorrows — honour, and was 
content to be despised — home, and had not where 
to lay His head — life, and poured out His blood. 
At a price thus costly and inestimable the pearl 
precious in His sight was purchased. Or, again, 
as the Shepherd, Jesus beheld among His hundred 
sheep one that had gone astray. He left the ninety 
and nine; He sought the wanderer; He tracked 
its devious course; He discovered it in the enemies' 
hands, bleeding, dying, only to be saved by sub- 
stitution — by His dying in its stead. Then the 

* Not only is the merchantman seeking goodly pearls 
a beautiful illustration of the Son of Man seeking those 
that were lost, but the form of the parable seems to demand 
this interpretation. The " kingdom of heaven," which in 
all the other parables of the 13th of Matthew signifies the 
person or work of the Saviour, is likened to the merchant- 
man, not to the pearl. 



20 REST AND EESURRECTION. 

Good Shepherd laid down His life for the sheep ; 
and thus He recovered it^ and when it was founds 
He laid it on His shoulder rejoicing, because He 
was possessor of that which He had lost. Then He 
rested, but not till then. 

From the stall of Bethlehem to the cross of 
Calvary the work of redemption was one of suc- 
cessive sorrows. The wildernesses and mountains 
of Judea and Galilee witnessed to the strong crjdngs 
and unutterable groanings of the Son of God. The 
shores of Gennesaret and the sea-coast of Tyre and 
Sidon were trodden by His weary feet ; the herbage 
of Olivet often formed His couch, and the olive- 
trees of Gethsemane His nightly canopy. He was 
insulted by the populace ; He was scorned by the 
chief priests; He was condemned by the rulers, 
and forsaken by His very friends. In the last and 
dreadful conflict, Satan and the powers of darkness 
exerted against Him their leagued power; angels 
were not permitted to minister unto Him ; and the 
Father, beholding Him sin-cursed, hid His face from 
the Son of His love. His was an accumulation of 
woe, one atom of which would, unsupported, sink us 
in the dust : His was a depth of sorrow which no line 
of ours can fathom ; a darkness of misery exceeding 
far that wonderful obscurity which, when He was 
crucified, made man afraid. 

Consider well this crushing p}T:amid of grief: 
the sense of intense bodily agony, of loneliness of 
woe, of bitter ingratitude from those who had been 



THE redeemer's SABBATH. 21 

befriended, of desertion by His followers, the pro- 
stration of conscious shame, the keen feeling of scorn 
and derision; and add to all these sorrows the 
Father averting His face, though the piercing cry 
of the Son of His love had been heard throughout 
the high courts of heaven, and then endeavour to 
conceive the fearful punishment which Christ en- 
dured. But sin^s burden was borne, and for ever 
cast into the depths of the sea ; the curse fulfilled 
was felt no more, and the Father's face shone again 
on the Son in whom He was well pleased. Satan 
was defeated, his head bruised in the conflict : the 
prayer of Gethsemane was heard, and the bitter 
cup was passed away. Having finished the trans- 
gression, having made an end of sin, the Redeemer 
entered upon His Sabbath, and ceased from His 
work ; for, behold ! it was complete ! 

And now the second Adam stands in Paradise ; 
but it is not alone that He has passed through its 
barred gate. He has entered not as a captive, but 
as a conqueror. With the cry of victory He has 
dismissed His soul; and by death He gives the 
mortal blow to him who has the power of death, 
that is, the devil. In the first Paradise, Satan 
rejoiced over man^s sin; in this Paradise, Jesus 
rejoices over man's restoration. From the first 
man is driven, hopeless, helpless ; into the other 
Jesus enters, leading captivity captive. As the 
Warrior He takes off His armour, for the deliver- 
ance is accomplished; He rests in peaceful expect- 



22 EEST AND KESUEEECnON. 

ation. for the victory is decisive. And aromid that 
mighty Captain of salvation trophies are ah^eady 
gathering. The thief who so lately hung upon the 
cross^ beholding with the eye of faith the dying 
Jesus to be Lord of Paradise^ is^ as that blessed 
Sabbath commences, admitted to share its blessed- 
ness, washed in that precious blood which yet 
marked the place where Christ had died. Jesus 
rested the seventh dav accordms; to the command- 
ment, and it was a rest of bHssful hope : anticipating 
with assui^ance the olorv of the resurrection morn, 
the clothing; of Himself with the robes of victorv. the 
decking of Himself with the crown of triumph. 

It is written in Scriptui^e, '^ That Sabbath-day 
was a hio^h dav.*' And trulv the last, and highest, 
and best of earthly Sabbaths — the Sabbath of the 
lately suflfering Redeemer, of God incarnate for our 
salvation, of Him who had nobly finished the work 
that the Father gave Him to do. It was the Sab- 
bath from which an undying gleam of light illumi- 
nated the darkness of the grave. It was the Sabbath 
wherein the ear of wheat germinated, which was on 
the morrow to be waved before the Lord, the sheaf 
of the first-fi'uits of them that slept. It was the 
Sabbath which preceded the first day of the new 
creation, of the regeneration of all things, when 
liodit and life were ao-ain to arise at the Almio^htv's 
bidding, and change a sin-cursed world into his 
glorious heritacre. It was the Sabbath of the Re- 
deemer's work, the waiting-time for His reward. 



23 



THE BELIEVER'S SABBATH, 



" Two hands upon the breast, 

And labour 's done ; 
Two pale feet cross' d in rest, 

The race is won ; 
Two eves with coin weights shut, 

And tears now cease ; 
Two lips whose grief is mute, 

And all is peace ; 
One Friend, one foe, one death 

One life above ; 
One God, one hope, one faith, 

And all is love." 



.25 



THE BELIEVER^S SABBATH. 



" There remainetli, therefore, a rest for the people 
of God." 



Rest is pleasant unto the labouring man, and sleep 
is sweet to him who suffers pain ; reunion is joyous 
to those who have long been parted, and home is a 
precious thought unto the absent child. Even so : 
the Sabbath that remaineth for the people of God 
is joyous to them who are labouring in their Master's 
work ; falling asleep in Jesus is sweet to him who 
suffers tribulation ; everlasting reunion is a blessed 
anticipation to those who weep departed friends; 
and an eternal home in heaven is the bright hope 
of those who on earth are taught by the Holy Spirit 
to cry, " Abba, Father." 

Death is naturally an object of dread. The 
separation of soul and body is an anomaly in God's 
creation — the consequence of sin; the thought of 
the tomb is chilling, and the anticipation of the 
grave is gloomy. But the revelation of the Gospel 



26 EEST AND RESURRECTION. 

of Jesus lias brought life and immortality to Kght. 
Death's pathway has been trodden by. the Son of 
God^ and His followers need not fear to tread in 
His footsteps, ^^ The lamp of BUs love is our guide 
through the gloom/' and we need not tremble to 
follow its certain light. He that was dead, but is 
alive for evermore, now holds the keys of hell and 
of death, and the believer can trust his body and 
soul to His keeping as unto that of a faithful Cre- 
ator. Thus death is robbed of its stino^, and the 
grave can no longer boast of victory. The believer 
has already- passed from death unto life, and he dieth 
no more — death hath no more dominion over him. 
All things are his ; and in his glorious catalogue of 
possessions the apostle has placed bothhfe and death, 
Jesus has altoo-ether transformed death : He hath 
made the tomb the vestibule of glory^ the passage 
to resurrection^ the waiting-chamber for the Bride- 
groom's appearance. It is the Sabbath that re- 
maineth when the six-days' work of grace is done, 
and before the first day of resurrection glory 
dawns. 

The Bible has not revealed to us much of the 
intermediate state of the soul between death and 
resurrection. ^' Sleeping in Jesus/' and " present 
with the Lord/' are, however^ expressions which 
tell all that the children of the heavenly King need 
to know. We read of a Hebrew babe, beautiful 
before the Lord, under sentence of death, and to 
the eye of man hopelessly exposed to all its pain. 



THE BELIEYEE's SABBATH. 27 

That infant is bj the hand of faith placed in its 
buh'ush cradle on the Nile's cold stream ; it sleeps 
in peace, unconscious of danger ; it awakes a royal 
child, the palace servants ministering to it, the 
princess bending over it, the king's only daughter 
creating it the inheritor of a mighty kingdom. So 
the child of God is launched on death^s cold river — 
lie sleeps in peace. He awakes, and the angels of 
Jesus are round about him, and the arms of the 
Saviour encircle him, and the voice of the Lord 
declares that the sinner saved by grace is His 
beloved child, and that he is the inheritor of a 
kingdom prepared before the foundation of the 
world. Such are the promises of the Lord to 
those who trust in Him. Need faith then fear 
the stream of death, or shrink from exposure to 
the flood ? 

The Sabbath, w^e say, was typical of the be- 
liever's death ; for it is a rest, caused as was the 
Creator's by a termination of labour, as was the 
Redeemer's by a cessation of conflict. The be- 
liever's labour is over when he falls asleep in Jesus. 
From the day of his new birth, from the hour when 
first he realised that he was not his own, but bouo-ht 
with a price, he has been endeavouring to glorify 
God in his body and spirit, which are His, — he 
has been labouring, that, whether called to be pre- 
sent with his Lord or continued in absence from 
Him, he might still be accepted of Him. This 
service is truly pleasant, for where is the Christian 



28 EEST AND EESURRECTION. 

who would wish to labour less ? Yet it is difficult 
and unceasing ; it causes the burden of sin to be 
painfully felt^ and sometimes begets the earnest 
lonmno; to be with Christ, which is far better. 
The children are, it is true, pleased to do their 
Father's will on earth. It is all willing labour, for 
in God's family there is no slave-work. Yet are 
they glad when their Father says " Enough ! " — 
when He beholds the work of grace, and declares 
^•It is very good !^^ — when His will is that they 
shall be gathered unto their rest — when Jesus bids 
them enter on the Sabbath-keeping that remaineth 
for the people of God. 

When the believer rests a double work is com- 
pleted — his labour whilst on earth to glorify his 
heavenly Father, and the Spirit's work in making 
perfect the child of His love. By that title of per- 
fection, the incommunicable name of Jehovah, God 
is revealed whenever the youngest or feeblest of His 
children enter on their Sabbath — a work of grace 
is perfected — a work of sanctification is completed; 
and not only without spot or wrinkle, as clothed in 
the righteousness of Jesus, but likewise as meet- 
ened by grace for the heavenly inheritance, the 
believing, saved soul rests among the spirits of just 
men made perfect. A new song vibrates among 
the heavenly hosts, for the recovery of another 
long-lost child of man is consummiated ; for another 
fragile flower of the wilderness is planted in the 
fairer Eden which God hath created \ for another 



THE BELIE YERS SABBATH. 29 

brand plucked from tlio burning, now lighted with 
the seraphs' fire, for ever burns before the tlirone of 
God — a light which is not consumed. 

The believer rests likewise because, as with his 
Redeemer so with him, conflict has ceased ; it has 
ceased because of victor j — apparently the victory 
of death, really the victory of Jesus. Death only 
broke the shell, Jesus laid hold of the fruit : death 
destroyed the casket, Jesus bore upwards the jewel. 
As by His own death He destroyed him who had 
the power of death, so by the death of His saints 
He takes awav the prev from the mioiitv, and 
causes the lawful captive to be delivered. The 
very stroke of the enemy that man calls death, 
Jesus calls life : the very effort in which Satan 
seems to conquer, is that in which Christ completes 
His victory. 

The bodi/ falls, it is true, and sees corruption ; 
it is laid in the cold, dark, lonesome grave, and has 
fellowship with the worm. But even there the eye 
of Jesus rests, and the power of Jesus protects ; the 
broken shell, the destroyed casket, is precious in 
His eyes — not one atom is forgotten, all is pre- 
served. Like the seed-corn it dies, only that from 
it the new stalk may germinate ; like the oyster- 
shell it is left to decay, only that in it Jesus may 
discover the precious pearl which shall for ever 
shine in His redeeming: crown. 

The soul is separated from the body, but it 
dieth not. Jesus has said, '^ He that heareth my 



30 REST AND RESURRECTION. 

word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath 
everlasting life, and shall not come into condemna- 
tion, but is passed from death unto life/^ (John, v. 24.) 
The soul is dead ere Jesus quickens it, but once 
quickened, it dieth no more. It is naturally dead 
in trespasses and sins, in a state of separation from 
God ; but risen with Christ in newness of life, it 
possesses even now a resurrection existence, and on 
it death has no power. The dead have heard the 
voice of the Son of God, and thev that hear shall 
live. When the body descends to the tomb, the 
soul ascends unto God; when the one returns to 
kindred dust, the other unites with kindred spirits ; 
when the one is laid in its last, long, earthly home, 
the other enters Paradise and rests in the bosom of 
Jesus. We feel that to imagine the sensations of 
the death-released soul is to enter on unrevealed 
ground, is to endeavour to behold that abode over 
which the word of God has thrown a veil we cannot 
remove. 

We sometimes err in imagining the glories of 
the complete resurrection life enjoyed so soon as 
the soul has quitted its clay-built tenement; and 
sometimes we think we also err in imagining the 
souls of the departed yet hovering around us, and 
yet occupied in watching the advancing or the 
retrograde steps of those with whom they once 
traversed this wilderness world. 

The Sabbath-keeping that remaineth for the 
people of God neither implies new life, nor yet 



THE BELIE YER's SABBATH. 31 

continuance of week-day work. Rest^ repose, 
peace, quiet joy, are the thoughts to which this 
expression gives birth, and so does the favourite 
New Testament descriptions of the disciples who 
have died, " Those who have fallen asleep.''^ They 
are asleep to earthly cares and earthly toils, fear no 
longer disquiets them, pain no more wearies them, 
and sin never again distresses them. Their souls 
rest in blissful consciousness, in secure anticipation, 
and consequently, in perfect quietness. Their ne- 
gative joy is complete, no pain, no sorrow, no sin ; 
their positive joy is partly anticipative. Their faith, 
we believe, shall even then cease, because of sight ; 
but hope shall shine with a far brighter lustre, 
increasing more and more unto the perfect day, 
when it likewise shall be lost in the all-absorbino; 
rays of love to Him whom they shall see as He is, 
and adore with joy unspeakable and affection incon- 
ceivable. 

The past, present, and future of the dead in 
Christ are all bound up in the bleeding Lamb ; 
then' sins of earth are remembered no more, for the 
victim was offered up on the cross of Calvary; 
they enjoy their Sabbath now, for ^^ the Lamb, as it 
had been slain," standeth m the midst of the throne 
of God; they look forward to joys yet more exceed- 
ing, because in resurrection life they shall follow 
the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. 

Reader, do you mourn departed friends who 
sleep in Jesus ? Sorrow not as those who have no 



32 REST AND RESURRECTION. 

hope. Your beloved ones are Sabbath-keeping 
now ; they rest in the bosom of their Saviour ; 
they have entered the new Paradise which Christ 
has opened^ and the clouds of earth do not flit over 
its sunlit sky, the storms of time do not wither its 
unfading flowers, nor the dust of the grave dim its 
living freshness. They are there at rest — perfect 
rest. 

Reader, are you a believer in the finished work 
of Jesus, and yet shrink from the touch of death, 
and dread the loneliness of the tomb ? It is not 
an everlasting abode, it is not a final state; it is 
only what Jesus found it— the avenue to glory, 
the rest before resurrection. The grave once 
claimed a victory; now it has but its appointed 
service — to guard the dust of God's beloved ones. 
Death once possessed a terrible sting, now it only 
soothes to slumber the saints of the Most High. 
Wherefore shouldest thou fear the rest that re- 
maineth for the people of God, or dread the note 
that shall summon thee to thy Father's home, that 
shall tell thee that the week-days of toil are com- 
pleted, and the Sabbath of blissful repose is com- 
menced ? 

Fix thine eye rather on the Captain of thy 
salvation, entering before thee the portals of the 
tomb, and by His presence clearing its dark and 
gloomy shadows, and transforming it into a region 
of light. Like Him thou shalt spend thy Sabbath 
in the quiet assurance of hope, and, like Him, thy 



THE BELIETEE^S SABBATH. 33 

resurrection call shall be in the early morn of a 
new week^s first day. It shall be as the first ray 
of glory dawns — a glory concerning which no Sab- 
bath is revealed^ for it stretches farther than mortal 
eye can reach into incomprehensible eternity. Wilt 
thou not then^ at thy Master^s call^ lay thee down 
in peace^ and take thy rest, assured that thou shalt 
wake up after His likeness and be satisfied ? In 
this faith canst thou not humbly join in the 
apostle's triumphant challenge, " O death, where 
is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy victory V^ 
And canst thou not gratefully unite in his ascrip- 
tion of praise, ^^ Thanks be unto God, who giveth 
me the victory, through my Lord Jesus Christ ?" 



35 



THE SANCTIFIER'S SABBATH, 



^ The groans of Xature in this lower world, 
Which heaven has heard for ages, have an end. 
Foretold by prophets and by poets sung, 
Whose hre was kindled at the prophet's lamp, 
The time of rest, the promised Sabbath, comes, 
-jf- -jf -^ -^ 

Oh, scenes surpassing fable and vet true, 
Scenes of accomplished bhss ! which who can see, 
Though but in distant prospect, and not feel 
His soul refresh' d with foretaste of the joy ? 
Rivers of gladness water all the earth, 
And clothe all chmes with beauty ; 
One song employs all nations ; and all cry, 
' Worthy the Lamb, for He was slain for us !' 
The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks 
Shout to each other ; and the mountain tops 
From distant mountains catch the flying joy \ 
Till, nation after nation taught the strain, 
Earth rolls the rapturous Hosanna round.'* 

COWPER. 



37 



THE SANOTIFIER'S SABBATH. 

" Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed 
unto the day of redemption." — Eph. iv. 30. 

^^ They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy moun- 
tain : for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the 
Lord as the waters cover the sea." — Isa. xi. 9. 

" In that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses, 
Holiness unto the Lord ; and the pots in the Lord's house 
shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in 
Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of 
hosts ; and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of 
them, and seethe therein : and in that day there shall be 
no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts." 
■^Zech, xiv. 20, 21. 

" They shall all know me, from the least of them unto 
the greatest of them, saith the Lord." — Jer, xxxi. 34. 

When Jesus was ready to leave His own that were 
in the world, He gave unto them the blessed pro- 
mise, ^^I will give unto you another Comforter, 
that He may abide with you for ever; even the 
Spirit of truth :" and the work of that Comforter 
was made known when the Saviour said, ^^He 
shall teach you all things ; He shall testify of me ; 
He shall reprove the world of sin^ and of righteous- 



38 EEST AND EESUEEECTION. 

ness^ and of judgment." Only ten days passed from 
the time of the ascension till^ in wondrous power, 
the Holy Ghost descended on the little company of 
believers ; a very ^^ little while/' and in His Spirit 
Jesus was again with His Church. By that out- 
pouring from on high, the Church was assured that 
its ascended Lord had received gifts for men. As 
the resurrection of Jesus had been the pledge of an 
accepted atonement, so the gift of the Holy Spirit 
was the seal of an effectual intercession. 

Eighteen hundred years have passed since that 
great day, and the Comforter has not ceased from 
the work He came to perform — the sanctification 
of the Church collectively, and of each believer in- 
dividually. As 

" Saint after saint on earth 
Has lived, and loved, and died," 

the blessed Spirit has seen the stone which He has 
chiselled fitted into its prepared place in the living 
temple of the Lord God ; but His Sabbath has yet 
to dawn, which shall succeed the triumphant placing 
of the top-stone of the completed edifice, amid the 
joyful shoutings of " Grace, grace, unto it." City 
after city has been won from the enemy, and as 
they have successively fallen before the power of 
the Spirit of the Lord, loud '' Hallelujahs " have 
filled the vaults of heaven ; but He sheathes not the 
sword, and rests neither day nor night, until the 
glad tidings are heard, " The kingdoms of this world 



THE SANCTIFIEIl's SABBATH. 39 

are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His 
Christ." The work of the sanctifjdng Spirit of God 
is the characteristic of the present dispensation^ and 
His rest after perfected work is the teraiination to 
which it is hastening. The Millennium shall be 
the Sabbath of the Third Person of the blessed 
Trinity: for there shall be no need to testify of 
Christ when every eve shall see Him^ — no need to 
teach all things^ when all shall know the Lord, 
from the least even to the greatest. The master's 
work is done^ when instruction is fully received ; 
the physician^ s labour is over, when the patient is 
recovered ; the artist's end is accomplished^ when 
the drawing is perfected; the reaper^s toil has 
ceased^ when the sheaves of corn are laid in the 
garner. So^ when the Church is saved^ when 
^•Holiness to the Lord" is inscribed on the girdle 
which encircles earthy when one song shall em- 
ploy all nations^ then shall the Holy Spirit's work 
of love be over^ and His labour done. 

When creation's six-days' work was completed 
God pronounced it very good, and as Creator He 
rested ; when atonement's work was effected, Jesus 
proclaimed, " It is finished," and as Redeemer He 
rested: and when regeneration's work is accom- 
plished, the Holy Ghost shall declare it holy and 
without blemish, and as Sanctifier He likewise 
shall rest. 

It shall be a joyful rest, from a work of love 
and a labour of sorrow. We believe that the work 



40 BEST AND RESUERECTION. 

of sanctiflcation is to God the Spirit as costly as the 
work of redemption was unto God the Son. '' Grieve 
not the Holy Spirit of God/' would not have been an 
injunction of sacred writ if the Comforter of man 
were not oftentimes tried and saddened by the life 
of man. The Holy Spirit making our sinful bodies 
His holy temple is an act of grace^ as condescending 
as that of the Lord Jesus for our sakes becoming 
poor^ and making His abode amongst the sons of 
men. The dwelling in us is love as wonderful as the 
living ivith us. God in us^ '^ the hope of glory/' is a 
truth as amazino; as that embodied in the Emmanuel 
name of the Virgin^s child. Yet such is the love of 
the triune Jehovah^ that " this is the will of God, 
even our sanctification" — a sanctification planned 
by God the Father, provided by God the Son, exe- 
cuted by God the Holy Ghost. 

When this w^ork is done — when the Church is 
completed, perfect, entire — when the blessed Spirit, 
beholding His w^ork very good, rests on earth^s 
millennial Sabbath — shall there not be amongst 
the sons of God a long and loud ascription of praise 
to Him who beareth this glorious title, '^ I am the 
Jehovah who hath sanctified you?" 

Fellow-Christians, we live in the day of the 
Spirit^ s work, and we may be fellow-labourers with 
Him in the w^ork of sanctification. We cannot, like 
the apostles, bear the toil of the Man of Sorrows ; 
we cannot, like Lazarus, and Mary, and Martha, 
welcome Him into our habitation: but we can 



THE SANCTIFIER^S SAEBATH. 41 

labour with the Lord the Spirit. We can open 
our hearts to receive Him, we can guard against 
the sin that grieves Him^ we can join in the Church's 
cr;-, " Awake, O north wind ; and blow, thou 
south ; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof 
may flow out." We can continue in prayer for 
another pentecostal outpouring, and the bride can 
unite with the Holy Spirit in the cry unto the 
bridegroom, ^^ Come ! " 

The Sanctifier's Sabbath-day will be earth^s 
glad Sabbath likewise. Earth needs a Sabbath. 

'' Six thousand years of sorrow have well nigh 
Spread o'er the earth their desolating course." 

'^ Cursed be the ground for thy sake,^^ is part 
of that terrible denunciation which the All-just 
God pronounced against Adam on the day that 
he had taken of the forbidden fruit, and had eaten. 
And that curse has remained until now. God 
has not in judgment only, but in mercy, linked 
sin and suffering together; they have ever stood 
side by side. And though loiig-suflFering mercy is 
designedly exhibited in the history of this sin- 
cursed world, created intelhgences must likewise 
read an awful lesson of the consequences of evil 
and of the justice of God. Sin is the frightful 
monster that has bitten earth's creation, and in- 
flicted from its deadly fangs the poison of war, 
famine, and pestilence ; in other words, of discord, 
want, and disease. 



42 KEST AND RESUERECTION. 

From the day that Adam simied earth has been 
the arena of discord, personal animosities^ family 
dissensions, national wars. Think you not that 
there were mutual accusations and reproaches ere 
Adam replied to his Maker^. ^" The woman whom 
thou cravest to be with me. she save me of tlie tree, 
and I did eat?" And was it not an earnest of 
the contentions that were to rage on earth, that of 
the first children who could call each other bro- 
thers one should raise his hand and kill the other, 
and that the first human blood spilt upon the 
ground should call for vengeance on a fratricide ? 
From that day to this, nation has lifted up sword 
against nation, and man's hand has continually been 
imbrued in the blood of his fellow-man. Whether 
we endeavour to decipher the hierogi^-j^hics of Egypt, 
or to read the tablets lono; biuied amono-st the 
ruins of Xineveh, or cast our eyes over the sacred 
pages of Jewish history, or peruse the classical 
stories of Greece and of Rome, or the modern 
records of Germany, of Russia, of France, of 
England, or of America, the scarlet mark may be 
traced throuo'h all : for we shall find each pac^e 
stained bv the shedding; of the brother^s blood. 
Nor is it otherwise with the leaf on which history 
is now inscribing its indehble annals. Amidst the 
boasted civilisation and advancement of the nine- 
teenth century the sound of the battle still prevails, 
the cry of the slave is still heard, and the shout of 
the assassin still rings through the air. The cry 



THE SANCTIFIEk's SABBATH. 43 

of the martyrs from under the altar is ever deepen- 
ing, — " How long, O Lord, holy and true, how long 
shall the ungodly triumph, and the wicked blas- 
pheme thy name ? How long until thou avengest 
us of our adversary, until the Prince of Peace 
return, and cruelty, and rapine, and bloodshed, be 
learned no more ? " 

Tarry ye the Lord's leisure. ^^He that will 
come shall come, and shall not tarry." So soon 
as the Church of His Redeemed is completed — so 
soon as the Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier, has, through 
the fire of tribulation, purified the last atom of His 
gold — so soon as the permitted darts of the evil 
one have been spent — so soon as the enemy hath 
filled up the measure of his iniquity- — then shall 
He that is glorious in His apparel, travelling in 
the greatness of His strength^ appear with stained 
raiment, and garments dyed in blood; then shall 
He " tread down His enemies in His anger, and 
trample them in His fury, because the day of 
vengeance is in His heart, and the year of His 
redeemed is come."* And this terrible judgment 
shall usher in the reign of the Prince of Peace, 
when the sword shall be beaten into the plough- 
share and the spear into the pruning-hook, when 
nation shall no longer lift up sword against nation, 
and man shall learn war no more. Then shall the 
Sabbath of peace dawn, the spirit of peace shall 

* Isa. ixiii. 1-4. 



44 REST AND RESUREECTION. 

then universally prevail^ and in all God's holy 
mountain none shall hurt nor destroy. 

Earth needs a Sabbath because of want; famine 
of the body and of the soul is one of sin's dire curses. 
Man never feels he has attained ^^ enough J^ There 
has ever been in the human mind a craving after 
something which is unpossessed. Who has ever 
yet been found that would wish to spend eternity 
in the state in which he now is ? Who is so 
entirely satisfied with present possession that he 
desires no alteration of his condition ever to take 
place ? Happiness is the lovely phantom which 
all pursue but never obtain. We have seen the 
schoolboy chasing the painted butterfly^ imagining 
again and again that it is within his grasp. We 
have heard his shout of triumph as he thinks he 
has covered the beautiful insect^ and secured it for 
his prize ; but it has eluded its pursuer^ it has 
taken wing, and settled once more on a more dis- 
tant flower. So is it with happiness. Only for a 
little while it seems to abide on pleasure, riches, 
grandeur, or renown. Attain the spot on which it 
appears to rest, and it is gone ; it has alighted on a 
higher spray, further removed from present reach. 
In the human heart there is always to be found a 
yearning for a better time — for itself individually, 
for mankind generally. Excepting those who, like 
the pilgrims, are shut up in the gloomy dungeons 
of despair, all are anticipating " Good things to 
come.''^ Excepting those who have tasted of the 



THE SANCTIFIEE^S SABBATH. 45 

heavenly gift, who have drmik of the fountain of 
livino; waters, none have reahsed satisfvino- thino;s. 
And even these have only the earnest of future joy. 
They see dayhght, but it is only morning's early 
dawn ; they catch the sound of heaven^s harmony, 
but it is only in soft-whispered echoes. Faith and 
Hope have brought nigh what was afar off, but 
still they show only through a glass darkly the 
fulness of the joy which is at God's right hand for 
evermore. St. Paul describes^ in the Epistle to 
the Romans,^ this universal longing for unpossessed 
happiness, — '^ The earnest expectation of the crea- 
tion (xr/C2w;) waiteth for the manifestation of the 
sons of God." On the day when the dead in Christ 
shall be raised, they shall be shown forth in their 
adoption blessedness to all created intelligences. 
Then shall they appear in their new robes of re- 
surrection like unto Jesus. Then shall He who 
was not ashamed to wear their form, and in their 
humiliation to call them brethren — then shall He 
receive them, the exalted partners of His throne, 
wearing His form, and made kings and priests 
unto His God and Father. Then shall the blessed 
Spirit, who has silently rendered them meet for this 
mighty exaltation, behold in these saved ones the 
work of His holy influence, and His Sabbath-day 
shall be that of realised blessedness, of finished 
sanctification, of complete satisfaction. 

* Eom. viii. 19. 



46 REST AND EESURRECTION. 

There is now joy to Father^ Son^ and Holy 
Ghost, as each beherer ends his pilgrhnage, crosses 
the stream of Jordan, enters the land of promise. 
There is a song of praise to the triune God as each 
child arrives at the Father's mansion, a trophy of 
redeeming love and of sanctifying grace ; but on the 
millennial Sabbath the exodus of the whole Israel 
of God shall have been accomplished, the whole 
army shall have crossed the flood, and they shall 
stand on a sea of glass, and sing the song of Moses 
and of the Lamb. The saints' resurrection-day 
shall be the Sanctifier's Sabbath-day. 

In that day Judah shall be restored, and Israel 
shall dwell safely. All the promises which God 
made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, shall be ful- 
filled ; the land of Canaan shall be given to them 
for an everlasting possession, and their seed shall 
be innumerable as the stars of heaven.* Jacob 
shall return, and be at rest and be quiet — none 
shall make him afraid. Then shall the Spirit no 
longer strive with rebellious Israel, but shall rest 
m His love. Then shall the day be born which in 
Eden was prefigured by the Sabbath, and in after 
ages still more distinctly by the Sabbatical yeai^ 
and the year of Jubilee ; and the greatness of the 
antitype shall exceedingly sm'pass the type. It 
shall be celebrated in the ransom of the captive 
children of Judah, in the restoration of the land to 

^ Gen. xvii. 8. 



THE SANCTIFIEE S SABBATH. 47 

its rightful owners^ and in the consecration of all 
things to Jehovah. The bnsh that has so long 
burnt with fire unconsumed^ shall become a tree of 
righteousness — the planting of the Lord ; the gold 
which has so long been in the crucible shall become 
a crown of glory on the brow of Emmanuel ; the 
royal outcast shall be restored^ and be made great 
among all nations. Whilst the whole earth shall 
be the hallowed temple of Jehovah^ pre-eminence 
shall be peculiarly given unto Israel, and all peoples 
shall go up unto Jerusalem to worship the Lord in 
the beauty of holiness. IsraePs restoration-day shall 
be the Sanctifier's Sabbath-day. 

Furthermore, of the nations likewise, completed 
sanctification shall be the characteristic^ for all shall 
know their God, ^^from the least to the greatest." 
'^ Holiness tjnto the Loed " shall be inscribed on 
the bells of the horses, and nothing shall be esteemed 
either common or unclean. The earnest longings 
of creation shall be satisfied, and its groanings shall 
be heard no more. For man's sake it was cursed^ 
but for man's sake has it likewise been redeemed ; 
because of man's disobedience it ceased to be the 
perfect world which God had originally created, 
but because of man's obedience shall it again be- 
come the fair heritage of the Lord, In the first 
Adam it dies, but in the second Adam it shall 
revive. Man's sin breathed over it a withering 
blight, Christ's righteousness has diffused through- 
out it a healing essence. Perfect happiness shall 



48 EEST AND RESUERECTIGN. 

reign around; there shall be no aching void^ no 
unfulfilled desire. There shall reign abundance of 
peace^ abundance of provision, abundance of glory. 
There shall be contentment and no alloy, satisfac- 
tion and no surfeiting, blessing and no curse. The 
nation's benediction -dav shall be the Sauctifier's 
Sabbath-day. 

Earth needs its Sabbath because of disease and 
death. '^ Passing away ^^ is the motto engraven 
on everything; terrestrial. All around us fade and 
die. Do we watch the unfolding petals of the 
beautiful rosebud, mark its lovely tint, admire its 
elegant form ? They unfold only to di'op off, to 
wither, and to die. Do we wait for the chrysalis 
to burst its shroud, and to soar on hiofh with the 
insect's gay wing ? It is only to sport a few short 
days or hours, and then to fold that wing and die. 
Do we view the tall forest tree, admire its giant 
arms and waving; foliag;e ? Beside it stands another 
that a few years ago was strong as this ; but decay 
has commenced, the stem has become rotten, the 
luxuriance of the foliag;e has ceased, the roug;h 
winds break the boughs asunder, and leaf by leaf, 
and branch by branch, the old tree passeth away. 
Shall we fix our eye on something older still — on 
the momitain cliflP, or the standing rock ? But 
"change" is written there also. Those cliffs were 
once beneath the water, and the waves played over 
their heio^hts : or that rock, now surrounded bv the 
advancing tide^ was once far inland^ and, maybe, 



THE SANCTITIEE^S SABBATH. 49 

marked the place where^ in olclen days^ Druids held 
their orgies. 

We die daily. Life is but a inarch to deaths a 
continual progress to the grave. The little infant 
breathes away its gentle breathy and dies; the 
merriment of the lauo^hino- child ceases, for it 
bows its head upon its mother's breast, and is not; 
the young man, rejoicing in his youth, falls also 
beneath death's resistless hand. Neither does its 
sharp scythe spare the strong one in the prime of 
manhood. " The fathers, where are they ? And 
the prophets, do they live for ever ?" 

Earth is a vast churchyard. More are they 
that sleep than they that wake. The occupants of 
the tomb outnumber far the denizens of this busy 
world. 

" The earth rings hollow from below. 
And warns us of her dead." 

Man is like the cloud of morning, which soon 
vanishes away, either borne upwards by the glorious 
ravs of the Sun of Rio^hteousness, and absorbed in 
heaven's brightness, or, having increased in density, 
is fallen ag:ain on earth to mmoie with its arid soil. 

Man is like the flower, which imfoldeth itself 
for a little while, and then is gone. If one of God's 
flowers, it is plucked by the owner, and placed in 
his bosom ; if one of Satan's weeds, it is uprooted, 
withered, and cast into the fire to be burnt. Yet 
so it is; it passeth away. Not so when earth's 

E 



50 EEST AND RESURRECTION. 

millennial Sabbath dawns. ^^ Then the inhabitant 
shall no more say, I am sick." Disease and death 
shall pass no more upon the people of the Most 
High. The tree of life shall grow again in Para- 
dise, and its verdure shall be everlasting, and its 
flowers shall bloom immortally. 

Earth's needed Sabbath shall be at God's ap- 
pointed time. His angels are only waiting His 
command to sound their silver trumpets, and usher 
in earth's grand jubilee. When the six-days' work 
of sanctification is accomplished, then shall the 
land have rest; when the Canaanites are alto- 
gether driven out, then shall the meek receive 
their promised inheritance ; when ^^ Salvation" shall 
be engraven on the walls of the Holy City, and 
" Praise " shall gleam from its gates of pearl, then 
shall the bliss of complete, continued security, be 
enjoyed; when Christ shall take to Himself His 
great power, and reign ^^ King of kings and Lord 
of lords," then shall ^^ prayer be made for Him con- 
tinually, and daily shall He be praised ; " when the 
whole earth shall be filled with His glory, then 
shall the great name of the Holy Ghost, as Jehovah 
the Sanctifier, be manifested, — and well pleased, the 
Triune God shall behold His loved, ransomed, and 
regenerated world at rest, and bless earth's Sab- 
bath-day and hallow it. 



51 



THE REDEEMER'S RESURRECTION -DAY. 



" day, most calm, most briglit. 
The fruit of this, the next world's bud, 
Th' endorsement of supreme delight, 
Writ by a friend, and with his blood ; 
The couch of time — care's balm and bay ! 
The week were dark, but for thy light : 
Thy torch doth show the way. 

" Thou art a day of mirth ; 
And, where the weekdays trail on ground, 
Thy flight is higher, as thy birth. 
Oh ! let me take thee at the bound, 
Leaping with thee from sev'n to seVn ; 
Till that we both, being toss'd from earth. 
Fly hand in hand to heav'n." 

Herbert, 



53 



THE 

REDEEMER'S RESURRECTION- DAY. 

" Go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from 
the de8id.'"—Matt. xxviii. 7. 

"The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared unto 
Simon." — Luke, xxiv. 34. 

" But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become 
the first-fruits of them that slept." — ^1 Cor. xv. 20. 

When^ on the seventh day of the week^ Jesus 
rested^ it was as the Captain of our salvation made 
perfect through suffering; it was as the bruised 
Seed of the woman conquering in death ; it was as 
the Lamb of God^ the accepted sin-offering, the 
sacrifice for us. 

When, on the first day of the week, Jesus rose 
again, it was as the Mighty Conqueror, bearing the 
spoils of victory, as the first-born of the brethren, 
as the first-begotten from the dead, as the first sheaf 
of corn waved before the Lord, the earnest of the 
full in-gathering of all who sleep in Him. 

The glory of the first day of the week far 



54 REST AXD EisrEEEcnox. 

transcends that of tlie seventh: even as bhssfal 
awakening excels peaceful slumbering ; as clothing 
in resurrection robes suin^asses the unclothing of 
mortality; as the gathering of harvest exceeds the 
sowing of the seed; as the positive is greater than 
the negative. 

Oui' Lord's resurrection-day was to himself one 
of deliverance, of triumph, and of joy : was to His 
Church one of contirmed faith, of fresh-begotten 
hope, and of new-born love : it was the day which 
declared the prey to be taken from the mi^'liry. and 
the lawful captive to be dehvered. The death of 
Jesus was the achievement of conquest, the resm^- 
rection of Jesus was the proclamation of victory. 
The battle had been fought, but man knew not its 
issue until the bonds of death were rent asunder^ 
and the risen Saviour manifested by His personal. 
bodily presence, that over Him the grave had no 
power. ^' The Lord is risen indeed^" were the 
gladdest tidino's that earth ever heard. Thev told 
that sin was purged, that Satan was conquered^ 
that death was dead. 

The day of the resuiTection of the triumphant 
Saviour is named in Scriptm-e the Lord's- day. and 
is the day of a far fuller manifestation of Divine attri- 
butes than that on which the Creator rested from 
all the work which He had made. Wisdom, bene- 
volence, and power were then shown forth to all 
intelligences : now mercv and truth are seen to 
blend^ justice and peace ai^e mingled one vdili 



TKE REDEEMEK S EESUERECTION-DAT. 55 

another ; noyr the righteous God is declared the 
Saviour^ and the faithfulness and justice of God 
can forgive the sinner. The many-coloured bow of 
heaven has blended into the emerald arc^ that bow 
of mercy which now surrounds the throne of the 
Lord God Almighty and of the Lamb, The resur- 
rection of Jesus has been well-named the kev- 
stone of Christianity ; without it our faith is vain. 
It is the fountain of all our joys^ the foundation of 
all our hopes^ the title-deed of all our possessions. 
Blot out this fact from the word of God^ and on 
what can we rely ? Denv that Jesus rose ao^ain. 
and where is the value of the cross ? 

The resurrection-day was unto Jesus that of 
deliverance. His Sabbath in the grave was a 
period of repose^ and the repose was blissful be- 
cause of the sui^e and certain hope^ •• Thou shalt 
not leave my soul in hell, neither shalt thou suffer 
thy Holy One to see corruption."* And now 
that hope is realised^ that anticipation is fulfilled. 
Death had sought to bind the strong; man with its 
seven withes^ but he has broken them ^' as a thread 
of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire." t There 
had been an apparent ^-ictory over the Prince of 
Life^ and the grave seemed to hold the Son of God. 
But now death and the gTave can retain Him no 
longer. ^'Him hath God raised from the dead.^^ 
He laid down His life^ and He had power to take 

■^ Ps. xvi. 10. t Judg. xvi. 9. 



56 REST AND RESURRECTION. 

it again ; and ere the sun arose on the first day of 
the week^ the far more glorious Sun of Righteous- 
ness shot forth His rays from the darkness and 
gloom of the tomb. Death has brought forth life ; 
sorrow has begotten joy; darkness has given place 
to light; subjection has resulted in triumph; the 
curse for us has become the blessing unto all na- 
tions. A new work is commenced : — man's regene- 
ration can now be effected ; earth's renovation is 
now rendered possible. The greater, therefore, 
supersedes the lesser; and as the blossom fades 
when the fruit is forming, as the stars disappear 
when the sun is rising, so the Sabbath commemo- 
rative of the Creator's rest, anticipative of the Re- 
deemer's rest, is done away, and the Lord's-day is 
instituted, as the joyful commemoration of the first 
Easter morn, as the bright anticipation of the resur- 
rection life revealed to all believers. 

Unto the Church of Jesus the first day of the 
week became a season greatly beloved ; it was a 
birthday of grace, a foretaste of glory. In the 
morning the little company were very sad and very 
unbelieving ; in the evening, — ^^ then were the dis- 
ciples glad when they saw the Lord." Then was 
begotten a joy that never grew faint, a love that 
never waxed cold. Trials and persecutions were 
only fuel to fan the flame ; sorrows and losses were 
only materials for fresh rejoicings ; tribulation only 
threshed the wheat to prepare it for the Master's 
garner; death only hastened the time when its 



THE redeemer's RESUEEECTION-DAT. 57 

victims should lay their weary heads in the bosom 
of Him who was dead and is alive, and now holdeth 
the keys of death and of Hades. 

The Lord's-day became the hallowed day of 
the Church of Christ, more from the necessity of 
love and of thankful joy, than from direct divine 
commandment. That the seventh portion of time 
should be hallowed was a moral oblicfation, datino; 
from the day which followed the creation of man in 
God's own imac^e. That the first dav of the week 
should become the Christian's holy day, blessed by 
the presence of Jesus, and observed by His earliest 
disciples, was the obligation of love ; was the joyful 
celebration of the day of all days, of the day of life 
— of the day of victory. We have said, the obH- 
gation of love; perhaps we should rather have 
written, its privilege. They who love the Lord 
Jesus feel that to trample on the day which cele- 
brates His triumph — to give to the world, and the 
things of the world, the day which marks their 
Saviour's victory — would be declaring that they 
cared not for their risen Lord, that they were not 
partakers in His resurrection. We have read of 
the traveller crossing the sandy plain, wearied and 
thirsty, and longing for rest. He sees from a dis- 
tance the tops of the feathery palms; he knows 
there is water there, — he urges onward his steed, — 
he hastens to the spot, longing for the refreshment 
that welcome sight promises. The Christian pil- 
grim regards his Lord^s days as the sheltering trees. 



58 EEST AND EESTJERECTION. 

or as the refreshing springs. He rests under their 
shadow with great dehght — he quenches his thirst 
at the fountain of living water which they discover. 
He rests^ and his thankful experience teaches him 
to esteem them a dehght^ the holy of the Lord^ 
and honom^able. To him^ they are as the golden 
links of life's long chain — as the grapes of Eshcol^ 
foretastes in the wilderness of the fruits of Canaan — 
as days of sunshine after the prevalence of clouds 
— as heavenly flowers that even, whilst on earth, 
the children of God are permitted to enjoy. He es- 
teems Sunday as the ^^ pearl of days/' ^^ the best of 
all the seven," and he carefullv o^uards his treasured 
jewel. The healthy man thinks not of the duty of 
eating food — it is an instinct of his nature; and 
even so the new creature feels not the duty of 
observing the Lord's-day, — it is second nature vrith 
him; it is his grief if he lose in any way the pri- 
vilews of its sacred hours. The lovino: child does 
not complain that he is obliged to celebrate his 
father's bhthdav: and even so the child of God 
rather anticipates with joy the return of his Lord^s 
resurrection-dav, and delioiits in its blessed cele- 
bration. There should be no gloom comiected with 
Sunday. Its very name in oui' language seems to 
tell of a day of brightness, for it bears that of the 
most oiorious, material thino; of which we know. 
There is a season of the year when occasionally, as 
day follows day, we each morning observe nothing 
but the same imwearied, dull, cold, grey curtain 



THE kedeemee's eesukkection-dat. 59 

of cloud stretched over the sky. Distant scenes 
are lost in the thickening fog^ and nearer objects 
appear like the metal when it has no polish^ or 
the precious stone when it has lost its lustre. 
Noon passes^ and we hardly think the daylight 
has more than dawned ; evening approaches^ and 
we gladly close the curtains^ and gather round 
the more cheerful fire^ or the brighter lamp. At 
length the days of gloominess are passed; the 
clouds break, the blue sky is seen, and the sun 
pours across the land its slanting beams. And is 
not this a joyful sight? Does not the heart of man 
gladden ? Do not even the little songsters of the 
forest look up again, and chirp a few notes of wel- 
come to day's long-lost orb. To nature that is a 
Sunday after a time of gloominess. Generally, 
Christians experience their week-days to be those 
of anxious care or constant labour ; days for buying 
or selling, laying schemes or reckoning accounts, 
mixing in the world or toiling for daily bread. 
Then comes the Lord's-day — a glad holiday, a 
blessed home-day, a period for communion between 
God and His absent children. 

" Sundays the pillars are 
On which heaven's palace arched hes ; 
The other days fill up the spare 
And hollow room with vanities. 

On Sunday heaven's gate stands ope. 
Blessings are plentiful and rife^ 
More plentiful than hope." 



60 REST AND BESURRECTION. 

Week-days are like school-days; but for Sunday, 
we have from our Father the invitation, " Spend 
this day with me." On week-days we have to 
battle with the world, and often we are sore tried 
in the fight; but the wish of the Captain of our 
salvation is that our Sunday hours pass in commu- 
nion with Him, when our armour shall be polished 
and our strength renewed. On week-days we must 
bear care's laanj burdens ; but on Sundays we ought 
to lay them down, or if we bring them to the mercy- 
seat, it must be to leave them there. 

Sunday is the memorial-day of our Captain's 
conquest; it is the earnest-day of His people's 
victory, the foretaste of resurrection life, the day 
on which we should especially live as risen with 
Christ. 

Rest was the characteristic of the Jewish Sab- 
bath; holy service should distinguish the Christian 
Sunday. There should be the praise of heart and 
lip in the closet, in the family, in the congregation. 
There should likewise be the praise of heart and 
life in the effort to glorify God in the salvation of 
our fellow-man. 

If the pious Jew called the Sabbath a delight, 
the holy of the Lord, and honourable, and did 
honour it, the thankful Christian should, in a 
manner far more exceeding, esteem the Lord's-day 
a choice gift from his heavenly Father — a day to 
be desired beyond all other days, a day to be jea- 
lously preserved to all his brethren, a day of which 



THE eedee:mee's restjeeection-dat. 61 

it would indeed be selfish sacrilege to rob his 
fellow-creature. 

Love for the LorcVs-day is a test of our dis- 
cipleship. If we rejoice that Jesus is risen indeed, 
we shall value the day which celebrates that vic- 
torv. If we delio^ht in the thought of a 0:lorious 
resurrection^ we shall cherish the foretaste of it 
which our Father accords. If we are risen with 
Christ, we shall seek those things which are above, 
where He sitteth on the right-hand of God. If we 
are following on to know the Lord, we shall use 
with diligence the period which God hath especially 
given us to receive the revelation of His will. If 
we lono;, during davs of desert wanderino;s and of 
wilderness toils, to taste heaven^s jov, to sympathise 
in the employment of angel and archangel, we shall 
thankfully devote the Lord's-day to the praise of 
the Lamb in the midst of the throne, to communion 
with our risen Saviour, to the joyful service of our 
great Redeemer. 

On Sundays Jesus calls us up to the mount : let 
us not linger in the plains. He bids us look through 
faith's telescope, and see the glories of the resur- 
rection ; let us not weary of the sight. He lets us 
hear the whisper of heaven's music ; let us not refuse 
to tune our harp-strings, and, though it be but with 
faltering voices, to join the great chorus of praise. 
He permits us to be employed as angels are, bear- 
ing God's messages wherever the Father directs ; 
let us joyfully, thankfully spend its hours, in telling 



62 EEST AXD RESUERECTION. 

fellow-men the story of redeeming love^ in leading 
them to newness of life. 

Christian^ is the Lord's-day to thee a day with 
the Lord ? Is Smiday a day of brightness from the 
Sun of Righteousness ? Is thy weekly Easter a fore- 
taste of resurrection life ? 



63 



THE BELIEVER'S RESURRECTIOX-DAY 



"And when on joyful wing, 

Cleaving the sky^ 
Sun, moon, and stars forgot, 
Upward I lij ; 
Still all my song shall be, 
Neai-er, my God, to thee — 

Nearer to thee ! ' 



65 



THE BELIEVER'S RESURRECTION-DAY. 

" So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in 
corruption ; it is raised in incorruption : it is sown in dis- 
honour ; it is raised in glory : it is sown in weakness ; it is 
raised in power : it is sown a natural body ; it is raised a 
spiritual body. 

" So when this corruptible shall have put on incorrup- 
tion, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then 
shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death 
is swallowed up in victory." — 1 Cor. xv. 42-44, 54. 

In Scripture there are described three kinds of 
death and three kinds of life. There is the death 
of the soul^ in v^hich state we all are bj nature - — 
'^ Ye were dead in trespasses and sins ; " there is 
the death of the body^ ^^ for it is appointed unto all 
men once to die;" and there is the everlasting 
death of soul and body in hell, and this is the 
second death. There are^ likewise, three kinds of 
life: the life of the body, common to all amongst 
the children of men, in whom God hath breathed 
the breath of life ; the life of the soul, enjoyed by 
all whom God hath quickened^ who have passed 



66 REST AND EESURRECTION. 

from death into newness of life ; and the life of 
body and soul, the blessed state of them who shall 
hear the resurrection trumpet, who shall rise to 
meet their absent Lord, and on whom the second 
death hath no power. On the death or life of the 
soul in its present condition rests the everlasting 
life, or the never-ending death of soul and body, 
when throughout eternity they shall be reunited : 
for ^^he that is unjust, shall be unjust still;" and 
^^he that is holy, shall be holy still." But of life, 
not of death, we now write. Sunday is the Lord's- 
day, and it only speaks of that which concerns Him, 
His people, and His inheritance. We have seen 
how it declares the Saviour's resurrection glory; 
now we would consider the twofold new life of the 
believer, which it commemorates and anticipates. 

The believer has two resurrection-days — one is 
passed already. He has heard the voice of Jesus 
say, " I am the resurrection and the life : he that 
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he 
live;" and he has believed in Jesus, ^^and shall 
never die." He is ^^ passed from death unto life" — 
he is ^^ risen with Christ." The thought of present 
resurrection-life should be to him one of the most 
stirring incentives to holiness of living — one of the 
strongest reasons to spend and be spent for God. 
Come unto Mount Zion, unto the heavenly Jeru- 
salem, he should have his conversation where his 
citizenship is. Risen with Christ, he should seek 
those things which are at the right-hand of God. 



THE BELIETEE's RESrEEECTION-DAY. 67 

Adopted into the familv of heaven, he should know 
the children's love, and learn the children's lan- 
guage. Recipient of a new natiu'e. he should mani- 
fest it nnto the world, that man may glorify God^ 
who hath created him anew in Christ Jesns nnto 
love and o-ood works. Sundav is tlie dav that 
speaks to the believer of this resuiTection nnto 
spmtual life, that reminds him of his present high 
privileges, and that brings nnto the new-born soul 
the strenothenino; bread, the angels' food, the corn 
from heaven, that it needs for six days' labour. 
But whilst it is the seal of grace received, and the 
channel of grace imparted, it is likewise the pledge 
of glory promised. Whilst it commemorates the 
death unto sin and the new birth unto righteousness, 
it also anticipates the destruction of the grave and 
the resurrection in incorruption. At present, though 
the bitterness of death is passed, — though the 
venom of its stincp is extracted, — thoua^h. because 
of the believer's oneness with Christ, it may be said 
of him, that he also ^"'was dead, and is alive for 
evermore:" yet in another sense it is true, that he 
carries about with him the body of sin and deaths 
that he dies dailv, that the sentence of death is 
written in his members, and that but a little while, 
and if the coming of Jesus be not accompHshed, the 
blood must congeal and the flesh decay, the body 
must be sown in dishonour, it must mingle with 
kincbed earth, it must be trodden under foot of 
man. But Sunday is the day which speaks of the 



68 KEST A>T) EESUKREGHQN. 

time when tliis corruptible shall put on incor- 
ruption — when the seed dishonoui^ed in the grave 
shall be raised in glory — when the dust precious in 
God^ssiodit shall become reanimate with everlastm^ 
life breathed in it — when man shall inherit an 
everlasting being, soul and bodv rejoicing in their 
renewed and unending union. 

That future and complete resurrection-dav of 
the believer shall be one of great triumph unto 
Jesus. The joy of it shall be unto Him as the jov 
of haiwest. When not one sheaf is left unprotected 
in the fields, but all are gathered into the garner, 
then the husbandman rejoiceth that the labom^ of 
sowing and of reaping is accomplished. Chiist hath 
sown in tears the seed of His most precious blood; 
He hath reaped in joy as. from time to time. He put 
in His sickle, and gathered the ripened shocks of 
corn: and now He cometh again with rejoicing, 
bearing with Him all His sheaves, not one gTain 
fallen to the ground — satisfied with the fruit of 
His soul's hard travail, beholding the harvest com- 
pleted^ and His people saved. 

The iov of the believer's resmTection-dav shall 
be unto Jesus as the joy of conquest. The hour of 
the general's satisfaction is not when the city walls 
have been scaled, nor yet when his foes lay down 
theii' arms, nor even when the banners of liis 
country wave fi^oni the citadel's ram: arr^. Xay. 
it is rather when the prison-gates are opened wide. 
when tlie ii'ons ai'e broken from the captives' limbs^ 



THE BELIEYEE's EESOIEECTION-DAY, 69 

and his ransomed countnTnen welcome him their 
deliverer. So^ on the Churches Easter-morn^ Jesus 
will feel, not only is the victory won, but the end 
is obtained ; not only is the conflict terminated, but 
the joy set before Him is possessed; not only is 
the serpent's venom extracted, but its head is de- 
stroyed ; not only are His redeemed saved, but His 
saved are glorified. 

And in that day Christ and His people shall 
rejoice together. '^ I will come and receive you 
unto mvself, that where I am there ye mav be 
also." It shall be the day of the marriage of the 
Bride and the Lamb — the day of full, nuptial joy 
— the day in which He shall take her to His Father's 
house, to the place that He hath prepared, and 
receive her to Himself, delivered from the grave, 
ransomed from the tomb, and saved from the power 
of death. In that day, beholding the bride, for 
whom He hath suffered, He shall look on her well 
pleased, and say, "Thou art all fair, my love;" 
and she, beholding her Friend, her Spouse, her 
Saviour, and her God, shall, with heartfelt joy and 
gratitude, exclaim, "Thou art the chiefest among 
ten thousand, the altogether lovely." The Saviour 
shall behold, and love, and be satisfied ; the Church 
shall gaze, and love, and adore. 

As the believer rises in the glorious body which 
Christ hath prepared, and beholds the state of bliss 
beyond finite conception to which he is exalted, one 
feeling shall altogether fill his breast — the fulness 



70 EEST AND EESUERECTION. 

of grateful love. Faitli ceased to look upward so 
soon as the spirit was taken to be witli Jesus — so 
soon as it gently slept in the Saviour^s arms. On 
the day of resurrection hope shall have ceased like- 
wise^ for reality shall be possessed. The blossom 
falls off, for the fruit has ripened; the star dis- 
appears^ for the sun has risen; the sail is reefed^ 
for the harbour is entered. Now abideth faith^ 
hope^ and love : yet a little while^ and the walk of 
faith in the Saviour's conquest is over^ for Paradise 
is entered; yet a little while longer^ and hope's 
aspirations of resuiTection life are ceased^ for the 
day of full glory has appeared. There may be new 
faith and fresh hope springing up from the level 
obtained to one now wholly undescried^ but present 
faith shall have vanished in sight, and hope in pos- 
session. Not so with love. It shall be the very 
same circle, expanded into heavenly fulness; the 
very same spark, kindled into celestial flame. Love 
is the fulfilling of the law, and of the promise like- 
wise ; love is the foundation of faith, the top-stone of 
hope. Love is the light of the heavenly Jerusalem ; 
love is the firmament of the new heavens and earth. 
In the affections which God has given man there 
are the types of love in its four aspects : there is 
the primary phase of love, the love of benevolence, 
which feeling the parent has for his helpless, de- 
pendent offspring; there is the secondary, the 
responsive phase of love, the love of gratitude, 
which pure, fihal affection typifies; there is the 



THE believer's resuerection-dat. 71 

reciprocal phase of love^ the love of mutual delight^ 
which fraternal intercourse exhibits ; and there is^ 
lastly^ the composite love^ the blending of all these 
affections — parental^ filial^ and fraternal; the min- 
gling of all these springs — benevolence^ gratitude^ 
and mutual delight ; which seems foreshadowed on 
earth by the purity of conjugal love. This is a 
great mystery^ but it concerns Christ and His 
Church I and on the morning of the resurrection, 
when the marriage of the Lamb and His bride is 
come^ these holy affections shall burn with an inten- 
sity of feeling exceeding the purest love of earth, 
even as the rising sun excels the lamp of midnight. 
Benevolence shall fill the heart of Jesus as He 
beholds the mission of His love accomplished ; and 
gratitude shall fill the breast of His people as, made 
like unto their risen Lord, they shall begin to com- 
prehend the debt of their salvation, and to expe- 
rience the inconceivable things which God hath 
prepared for them that love Him. Then, made 
like unto each other — the one partaking of the 
human, the other raised to share the divine nature 
— they shall rejoice in each other's love. Then 
shall there be a consciousness of resemblance, of 
membership, of oneness : for then shall the Saviour's 
prayer be fully answered, " That they all may be 
one ; as thou. Father, art in me, and I in thee ; that 
they may be one in us." 

Believer, " we know not what we shall be ; but 



72 REST AND RESUEEECTION. 

we know^ that when He shall appear we shall be 
like Him^ for we shall see Him as He is." Can we 
wish for more ? Is not this assurance all satisfying ? 
^^Like Jesus!" therefore jt9g?/^ci^; perfect in beauty, 
in holiness, in wisdom, in happiness, in ability to 
do the will of our Father in heaven. 

Once, when Jesus abode on earth, the veil of 
suffering humanity was for a little while removed, 
and the three favoured disciples were permitted to 
behold, in anticipation, some measure of the beauty 
of His risen body. ^^ Then did His face shine as 
the sun, and His raiment was white as the light;" 
jes, as that light which shall be the brightness of 
the new Jerusalem. His people shall in this be 
like Him; for of them it is written, '* They that 
be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firma- 
ment ; and they that turn many to righteousness, as 
the stars for ever and ever." 

The lioliness of Jesus shall then be gloriously 
displaj^ed. The " thrice holy " of the seraphic hosts 
shall resound through the gates of heaven, and re- 
echo from the adoring earth. Yea, and if one 
sound shall be heard on that day of triumph, from 
the abode of lost spirits and lost men, the cry shall 
be, " I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of 
God." In this declared holiness His people shall 
share His triumph: they shall be recognised as 
the saints of the Most High; then shall they be 
arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine 



THE BELIEYER's RESniEECTION-DAT. 73 

linen is the righteousness of the saints. The holi- 
ness of Jesus shall be reflected in every saved saint, 
and so they shall bear His image. 

The happiness of Jesus shall then be com- 
plete^ and so shall be His people's. The cup of 
bKss that each one holds shall be filled to over- 
floYTing. Some may possess a larger vessel, a 
larger capacity for enjoyment, than others, but all 
shall have enough. Some may have ten cities, and 
others may have five, but none shall wish for more. 
All shall exclaim, " My cup runneth over ; at thy 
right hand is fulness of joy, in thy presence plea- 
sures for evermore." The table shall be furnished 
with guests ; some must have the highest and some 
the lowest seats : but as the Bridegroom cometh in, 
all that great assembly shall arise, and feeling their 
utter unworthiness to gather even the fallen crumbs, 
shall with one voice of grateful joy exclaim, '^ Wor- 
thy is the Lamb that was slain to receive glory, 
and honour, and power." 

Jesus shall in that day appear pre-eminently 
^^the Wisdom of God." ^^He that winneth souls 
is wise," is the declaration of Scripture ; therefore 
it shall be peculiarly visible how wisdom dwells in 
Him^ who hath delivered from the power of the 
grave, who hath everlastingly exalted the ten thou- 
sand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands 
of the children of men. The completion of the 
edifice testifies the wisdom of the architect; the 
entering into the haven proves the skill of the pilot. 



74 REST Am) EESTIKRECTION. 

^^ To the only wise God^ our Saviour/' shall be the 
universal ascription of praise from glorified man. 
And His people shall share His wisdom likewise. 
They shall then possess a range of intellectual 
knowledge^ of which man^s present discoveries are 
but slioht foreshadowino:s, — but streaks of morning; 
dawn^ which tell that day is breaking. Their re- 
newed minds shall then grasp spiritual knowledge, 
which at present it has not entered into their heart 
to conceive ; for they shall know even as also they 
are known, and the deep things of God shall be 
wonderfully revealed. 

Jesus shall in that day prove His Omnipotence. 
Not for Himself only, but for His people, shall He 
declare, '' I have finished the work thou gavest me 
to do." When the king of terrors is vanquished, 
and the power of the grave is annihilated — when 
the last redeemed one is delivered — then shall the 
words of the Lord Jesus be proved to all created 
intelligences, " All power is given unto me in heaven 
and in earth.*' And in this His people shall bear 
His image ; they shall have full power to do the 
will of their Father in heaven. No body of sin 
and death shall weigh down the deathless soul — no 
weak flesh shall detain the willing spirit. The 
saints shall be invested with royal garments, and 
reign as kings upon the earth. They shall receive 
powder from on high. " Thou hast been faithful 
in a very little, have thou authority,"^ shall be 
* Luke, xix. 17. 



THE belieyer's EESURRECTION-DAY. 75 

the words of their blessed Saviour. To all shall 
be given internal power and external dominion. 
The promised glory of the saints is more than we 
could imagine or believe, if the same word of the 
Lord, which said, ^^It behoved Him to be made 
like unto His brethren,"* had not likewise assured 
us, " When He shall appear, we shall be like 
Him."t He partook of our weakness, that we 
might imbibe His strength; He condescended to 
our shame, that we might be raised to His glory; 
He was made sin for us, that the Creator's right- 
eousness might be imputed to the creature; He 
suffered death, that we might inherit life. On the 
crucifixion-day He bore our curse; on the resur- 
rection-day we shall receive His blessing. In the 
former Jerusalem He carried our cross; in the 
new Jerusalem we shall wear His crown. In the 
garden sepulchre His dead body was laid ; amid 
the clouds of heaven our raised bodies shall meet 
their returning Lord. The exchange is wonderful, 
the transmutation is glorious. "Thanks be unto 
God for His unspeakable gift ! " 

^ Heb. ii. 17. t 1 John, iii. 2. 



77 



EARTH'S RESURRECTION -DAY. 



" The day is broke, which never more shall close/' 

Young. 



" God's own hand from all their eyes 
Wipes for ever every tear ; 
Death is dead, no more to rise ; 
Pain and sorrow disappear. 

Hark ! He speaks : the First— the Last, — 

* See the old creation past ! 

A new universe begun ! 

Write the changeless truth — 'Tis done ! * " 

Grinfield. 



79 



EARTH'S RESURRECTION-DAY. 

^' Then cometli the end, when he shall have delivered 
up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall 
have put down all rule, and all authority, and power. For 
he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, 

"And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then 
shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put 
all things under him, that God may be all in all." — 1 Cor. 
XV. 24-26, 28. 

" And I saw a gi'eat white throne, and him that sat on 
it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away ; 
and there was found no place for them. And I saw the 
dead, small and gi^eat, stand before God. 

" And I saw a new heaven and a new earth ; for the 
first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there 
was no more sea." — Rev. xx. 11, 12 : xxi. 1. 

The resiirrection-day of Jesus was called by the 
beloved apostle, when in his exile at Patmos, the 
^^ day of the Lord/' or '' the Lord's-day,"* At its 
eai^ly dawn a great earthquake shook the ground 
where Jesus lay, for the mighty angel had de- 

^ Rev. i. 10. 



80 BEST AND RESUREECTION. 

scended from heaven to roll back the stone which 
sealed the Saviour's sepulchre^ his countenance 
shining as the Ughtning^ and his raiment white as 
snow.* 

The resurrection-day of the saints is also re- 
vealed as the da J of the Lord.! Then the heavens 
shall agam be opened^ and One clothed in a vesture 
dipped in blood shall go forth ; and the mount that 
His feet shall touch shall be cloven in twain^ the 
earth shall quake^ and the rocks shall rend. Then 
shall He sound the trump of the Almighty^ and 
awake all who sleep in Jesus. 

The resurrection-dav of earth is lil^ewise fore- 
told by St. Peter as the day of the LordJ — that 
glorious day of revelation^ when He that sitteth on 
the throne shall declare, '^ Behold, I make all thmgs 
new." The millennial Sabbath shall have passed 
away, and Satan shall have made a short and final 
effort to prostrate the work of Jehovah, to gain the 
world from the Prince whose right it is. He will 
have deceived the nations of the earth, and brought 
them to compass the camp of the saints. § But 
once more Jehovah-Jesus shall gu^d himself with 
might, and appear, — not indeed as the Captain of 
salvation, fresh from conflict, red in His apparel 
and stained in his raiment, but in almighty majesty 
as Creator-God, holding all power in heaven and 

* Matt, xxviii. 2, 3. 

t 1 Thess. iv. 16 ; v. 2. Zech. xiv. 1. 

X 2 Pet. iii. 10. § Eev. xx. 9. 



eaeth's eesuerection-day. 81 

on earth. Then shall He, in the omnipotence of 
His strength, look down from His high and holy 
seat, and rain hot thunderbolts upon His enemies, 
and send fire from heaven for their destruction. 
Then shall He avenge the nations of their adver- 
sary, causing the de^41 which deceived them to be 
cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, and to be 
tormented day and night for ever and ever.* 

Thus the three resuiTCCtion-davs of the Saviour, 
of His people, and of the earth, are each called the 
^^ Day of the Lord,'' and have special reference to 
the Second Person of the glorious Trinity, cele- 
brating His triumphs, and forming epochs in the 
work of redemption. The first proclaimed the 
victory won, the second behokls every captive 
liberated, and the third shall witness the kingdom 
delivered again unto the Father, Emmanuel's media- 
torial work being wholly accomplished. 

In its sudden earthquake, and in the dread 
appearance of the mighty angel, the primeval 
Easter-mom prefigured the awful preludes of the 
resurrections that are yet future. For when the 
resurrection-day of the earth shall come, the Lord 
Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, 
witli the voice of the archangel, and the trump of 
God ; and ere the new heavens and new earth re- 
ceive their glorious investiture, the former heavens 
shall pass away with a great noise, and the ele- 

* Eev. XX. 9, 10. 



82 REST AND EESURRECTION. 

ments shall melt with fervent heat ; the flame shall 
spread from continent to continent^ one vast confla- 
gration shall encircle earth. Then shall the waters 
of the great deep be upheaved; the ocean shall 
boil as in a mighty caldron, and the last raging of 
its billows shall be heard, the last lashing of its 
tempest shall be seen. 

And then shall be born new heavens and a new 
earth. The world shall remain, but its atmosphere, 
its aspect, its surface, shall be altogether changed. 
It shall have passed through the fire, but not the 
fire of destruction — the refining crucible rather 
than the consmning flame. We see, as it were, an 
illustration of the process, when we stand beside 
the great fiery furnaces in which the dull and 
earthy sand and flint are molten, until they are 
transformed into transparent glass. Even thus 
shall the world melt with fervent heat ; but from 
that terrible furnace it shall come forth, as it is 
described in the Revelation,^ — a sea of glass, like 
mito crystal, or the pure gold, like unto transparent 
glass. A glory shall rest on it which eye hath not 
seen, which fancy cannot paint, which the heart of 
man cannot conceive. And when that glory is 
revealed to created intelligences, then shall the 
morning stars once more sing together, and all the 
sons of God shall shout for joy. 

It shall not only be the joy of completion, of 
perfection, of possession, it shall likewise be the joy 
of restoration : not the shepherd's joy, because the 



eakth's resuerectiox-dat. 83 

hmiclrecl slieep are liis own, but because the wan- 
dering sheep is recovered; not the woman's jov, 
because the ten pieces of money are possessed, but 
because the lost is found; not the father's joy, be- 
cause the two sons are ever with him, but because 
he that was dead is alive again. 

For years, that in the unknown past extend 
far beyond all human calculation, earth has been 
passing through varied stages of her existence. 
Dming these, the Creator's mighty fiat went forth, 
speaking matter into being ; His will was declared, 
out of nothing framing everything ; and His Spirit 
brooded over the dark waters of the deep, creatine; 
life in inorganic chaos. Higher and j'et higher 
forms of excellence continually appeared, until that 
immortal soul was breathed which the wondrous 
council of Jehovah had from all eternity planned, 
and man made in the imao^e of God, crov^Xied with 
glory and honour, was appointed to have dominion 
over the works of the Creator's hand. By the 
disobedience of one sin entered, and death by sin. 
^^ Cursed be the gromid for thy sake," was the di'ead 
sentence of the Deity; and the whole terrestrial 
creation of God seemed as if it were m danger of 
being disfigured and destroyed by the successful 
machinations of Satan, the arch-enemy of God and 
man. 

The plans of Satan, though arranged with such 
consummate cunning, were futile before the Om- 
niscience of the Godliead. He, whose eye seeth the 



84 EEST AND RESUERECTION. 

end from the beDinmno^, and with whom in the 
eternity of His knowledge is neither past nor 
future^ could not be surprised nor bafl3ed by the 
inventions of a creature He had formed, even 
though he vv^ere the first of created mtelligences, 
even though his wisdom and strength seemed to 
reach the utmost limit of that which is finite. 
Satan plamied man's destruction; God had pre- 
determined his exaltation. Satan resolved to make^ 
if possible, man's fair heritage a sin-cursed world ; 
God had prepared for him a renovated earth, 
Satan boldly endeavom^ed to dim the attributes of 
Divinitv ; God had ordained that the enemv should 
be the unwillins; instrument of makincr manifest 
His perfections. The dark cloud from the bottom- 
less pit arose to intercept the rays of the Sun of 
Righteousness-, but that eternal Sun painted on its 
darkness, and blended in glorious harmony, the bow 
of love and truth, of mercy and of holiness. Satan 
sought to overthrow man made in the image of 
God, but God came in the form of man to exalt the 
creature to oneness with Himself. 

The paradisaical earth was not the highest type 
of excellence which God designed. Man, tempted 
by the devil, sold himself and that beautiful habita- 
tion, which for countless ages Jehovah had been 
preparing as His abode. But God was mindful of 
man, and wonderfully regarded tlie rebel chikben 
of mankind. Redemption in the councils of eter- 
nity was to attain a height which creation had no 



eakth's eesukrection-dat. 85 

reached. The precious blood of Jesus, of Him who 
is Jehovah the Saviour, bought back the forfeited 
inheritance ; and earth has become our Emmanuel's 
purchased possession, purchased to be for length- 
ened ages the abode of His chosen people. 

The resurrection-day of earth shall reveal forms 
of beauty, of perfection, and of excellence, far ex- 
ceeding our present conception, not only in its moral 
government, but likewise, we believe, in its physical 
aspect. The shattered fragments of that creation^ 
which God Himself pronounced very good, shall 
again form one glorious whole ; the broken pillars 
shall be restored, the fallen stones replaced, and 
the glory of the latter temple shall be greater than 
the glory of the former, because the Desire of all 
nations shall come unto it, and Emmanuel shall 
fill the house with His presence. Grace shall then 
be expanded into glory, and promise shall be lost 
in fulfilment. Everything shall then have been 
accomplished. The work of redemption shall have 
run its course, for the enemy shall be wholly de- 
stroyed ; the possession shall be entirely attained ; 
the new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth 
righteousness, shall be the Son's, and to Him all 
rule, and authority, and power, shall be subject. 
He shall have in its fullest, final sense, finished the 
work which the Father sent Him to accomplish. 
Then, and not till then, shall He resign his media- 
torial kingdom, for as there iioio remaineth no more 
sacrifice for sin, the atonement having been effected. 



86 BEST AND RESURRECTION. 

SO then there shall remain no more intercession for 
sin, sanctification having been completed. The 
sacrifice would be needless now, for the curse has 
been endured; the intercession shall be needless 
then, for sin shall be abolished. Then shall there 
remain no more a mediator between God and man, 
for as the Father is in the Son and the Son in the 
Father, so shall the redeemed be one in Father and 
in Son. Unity existing, there shall need no Days- 
man. That power in heaven and earth which was 
given unto Jesus by the Father, that He might save 
His people and destroy His enemies, shall be laid 
at the Father's feet, because the Son hath completed 
the conquest, and is crowned with the spoils of 
victory. Not a hoof has been left in Egypt, every 
Israelite has been delivered. The Canaanite is 
driven out of the land, and the promised inheri- 
tance is his own. Then shall Jesus see, in all its 
length and breadth, of the travail of His soul, and 
He shall be satisfied ; then shall the deslrino; ano-els 
contemplate the finished work of redemption, and 
reverently veil their faces, as, with louder voices 
and deeper experience, they cry, "Holy, holy, 
holy. Lord God of Hosts ; " and then shall saved 
man, understanding the high destiny to which re- 
deeming love has exalted him, adoringly exclaim, 
'^ Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us ; but unto thy 
name ^ive praise, for thy mercy and for thy truth's 
sake."^ 

Earth's resurrection-day is the opening of the 



eaeth's eesueeection-dat. 87 

most distant yista througti which^ even by revela- 
tion^ we are permitted to gaze. But mortal eyes 
are too dim to penetrate the dazzling light that 
there beams. It is the day after the Creator's 
Sabbath^ the commencement of a new era, of a 
new life, of a new manifestation of the perfec- 
tions of the Godhead — of perfections which are 
now perhaps as incomprehensible as was justice 
before Satan fell, or mercy before man was saved. 
It shall then be seen that in then* divinity Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost are all one, the glory equal, 
the majesty co-eternal. God shall be all in all ; 
yet we believe that the glorified man, Christ Jesus, 
shall remain one with His Church, not by the hu- 
miliation of Himself, but by the exaltation of His 
people. It is a mystery which we cannot compre- 
hend, it is a love which w^e cannot conceive. Yet 
Scripture plainly reveals the everlasting Oneness 
of Christ and His chosen, and the new heavens and 
new earth as the prepared place, that where He is 
there His people may be. Man, in the image of 
God, is the apex of creation; man, one with God, 
is the vanishing line of redemption. 

Fellow Christians, what mamier of persons 
ought we to be in all holy conversation and god- 
liness, looking for and hasting unto the coming 
of the day of God ? Yes, seeing that we look for 
such things, let us be diligent, that we be found of 
Christ in peace, without spot and blameless. 



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